“Well… what now?” she groans, looking around to try to remember where to go.
“Hmmm,” I look around also, “TREE STUMP!”
“Right, right,” she agrees. The words on the stump had changed as well. Now, it reads, ‘ROT IN HERE LIKE THE REST— LIKE YOUR PARENTS’.
Natsuki slaps my arm, making me drop my bag. “Ow again!” I scold, “Dang, you even made everything scatter all over the dirt.”
She stands there for about 10 seconds, motionless and then assails the stump, “DARN YOU!” she rants and curses while I pick everything up.
I recover a book that felt like it was 50 pounds, “Oh right! My gamer’s book! I had nearly forgotten about you, my friend.” I flip through the pages and stop at page 103, revealing a map of the Lost Woods. “Natsuki! I know you’re kind of busy there, but come look at this!” I holler, excitedly.
She calms down and trudges towards me, “Whatcha got there?”
I point at the page and explain to her what it is.
“Wow! That’s really neat! Let’s try following the map this time,” she suggests, “If only we remembered this earlier…”
“Alrighty… So first, we just follow the trail to the next zone,” I recall. We follow along each time we point out a direction.
“And then to the left of us!” she smiles.
“The right,” I mumble, realizing this is where her parents lay. “Just walk as fast as you can through this next part and ignore all noises, all thoughts, all everything besides the goal and I in this next part, okay?”
“Alright,” she starts to tear up. I lit another match and took her petite, cold hand and ran. “Left!” she commands.
“Hey, the tree isn’t here anymore!,” I grin.
“Good... I don't want to fight again,” she responds.
“Straight ahead,”
“To the left,”
“And finally the right!” I finish.
“We made it!” she cried, “What was next in the dreams?”
“Um…,” I stop to think, “Oh no… no no no no no!”
“What is it?” she asks, “Is it really bad?”
“I’m really tired from all that walking and I’m all scraped up too…” I start to pant, “Why don't we just start this back up tomorrow?” I slowly back up.
“Hey! Where are you going, Yuudai?”
I had a feeling she knew where this was going by the tone of her voice. She grinned at me and held onto the handle of her blade. Yep. She definitely knows what's going on.
She started to balefully laugh and hesitantly limped in my direction. She unsheathed her blade and relaxed it on her right shoulder. “You know, I was kind of fond of you— you’d never give up, always knew what to do, I thought you were a hero. But I guess I was wrong. I guess you are nothing but a useless, weak, cowardly wimp… just like you said before,” she hissed, “And now since you’ve proven that right, YUU DAI (you die).”
That’s not funny. I started to scream, cry, I was a gross mess. I couldn’t just throw my life away like that. I rip a branch off a nearby tree with my good hand (the one not wrapped in undies).
Her walk increased speed and she laughed, “This couldve been quick and easy, but if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get!”
And the battle begins.
